As someone who is new to egullet, as a poster I thought I would throw my thoughts into this. The internet has made buying cooking related things, and I mean good cooking related items, good knives, cookbooks, purveyors etc. much more accessible to those of us who are not in the culinary world, or who are maybe contemplating it. There are things like Off the Broiler to intiate the unintiated and make the public much more aware of what is out there in terms of artisinal things, cooking technique and recipes. I am saving to buy the French Laundry Cookbook, because that is the absolute one cookbook I really need to have. In the meantime I just go sit in Barnes and Noble and thumb through it and try not to drool. I agree though, buying good cookbooks is like buying art. The French Laundry Cookbook is a good example of that.